Night Shift
by MinnieBSB
Summary: Just a oneshot following the end of the episode where Noah is kidnapped (Gone Baby Gone). Barson friendship.


**AN: Hello my lovely peeps! I've been missing Barson a little extra lately and wrote this up. Set at the end of Gone Baby Gone. Hope you enjoy and have a great day!**

**I do not own Law and Order SVU or the characters. **

Rafael stood outside of Olivia's apartment, anxiously waiting for her to answer the door. He had waited three days to come see her, trying to give her space. Noah had been kidnapped, taken for a full twenty-four hours, and none of the squad was okay. They were a family and one of the safety of one of their own had been compromised. He had texted her, mentioning that he wanted to stop by, but Olivia already had a full house with Sonny, Amanda, Fin, and Jessie huddled around her coffee table playing with legos. She had told him to come on over and join the fun, but he wanted to check in on _her_. So he waited a couple of hours to give them time to clear out before stopping by.

She answered the door, greeting him with a small, tired smile. "Rafa".

"Hey. How are you doing?" He asked with a crooked smile.

"You know, I honestly don't know how to answer that" She sighed, leaning against the door frame. "I stay up all night watching him. If I hear a sound, I'm up. We went to the corner fruit stand and this woman said that Noah was cute, and I practically bit her head off. But you didn't come over to talk about that" She said, shaking her head.

"I came here to talk to my friend about whatever she wants to talk about" He explained, taking a step closer. "She gonna invite me in?" He asked with that cocky look on his face.

"Of course" She stepped to the side, letting him in to her apartment. "I'm sorry about the mess. Noah just went down before you got here" She apologized as she carefully stepped around the toys to get to the couch. Rafael followed her exact path, plopping down on the couch next to her. He wasn't worried about stepping on anything and hurting himself, but he didn't want to break any of Noah's beloved toys. They sat close enough together that their thighs were brushing if either one of them slightly moved, but it was a comfortable closeness.

"So, is there anything else she wants to talk about?" He could see that Olivia was thinking about it, weighing out the pros and cons. "You don't have to" He reassured after a moment. The fact that she had been so candid about her week was surprising enough.

"I keep seeing her...Here, in Noah's room, every time I close my eyes" He could see unshed tears building up in her eyes. He couldn't imagine how she was feeling.

He extended his arm, wrapping it around her shoulders, coaxing her to rest her head on his chest. This was a bold move for them, but he didn't care at that moment. His friend was hurting so he was going to do everything he could to comfort her, just like he had in her office. He could see the exhaustion that was taking over body. "You need to get some sleep, Liv" He told her as her eyes fluttered closed. As much as he wanted to stay like this, she wasn't going to sleep well sitting up. She pulled herself back from him, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"But I have to make sure Noah is okay" She countered, yawning immediately afterwards. "I know it's crazy but I can't sleep unless I know he's okay and I can't make sure that he's okay unless I stay awake. It's a vicious cycle".

"Then I'll take the night shift" He offered. "I'll stay up and make sure that Noah is okay, that way you can get some sleep.''

"I don't know…" She sighed, running her hand through her hair. "I couldn't ask you to do that".

He rolled his eyes in his usual Barba manner before standing up and grabbing her hand. "You're not asking, I'm offering". She let him lead her down the hall and into her bedroom. "Go to sleep. I'll be out there". He turned around to go back into the living room, but was stopped when she called his name.

"Can you stay with me? Until I fall asleep…Never mind" She said, shaking her head. Her cheeks were flushed and she nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. It wasn't like her to be so vulnerable.

Rafael wordlessly made his way over to the bed, kicking off his shoes and pulling down the covers. He looked up at Olivia expectantly, smiling when she climbed in on her side, immediately covering herself with the thick blanket. He chose to sit with his back resting against the pillows and the headboard, knowing that he would be down for the count if he laid down.

"Ready?" He asked as he reached for the cord hanging on the lamp.

"Yeah".

He tugged the cord and turned off the light, leaving them with only the strip of light that peaked out of the bottom of the door from the hallway. Without thinking, he ran his fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp as she drifted off to sleep. It only took about ten minutes for her to fully fall asleep, but he stayed with her for a little over a half hour, just to be safe. Or so he told himself.

Needing to get up and stretch his legs, Rafael retreated to the living room. Knowing that he had to do something to keep himself awake, he decided to clean up some of Noah's toys that littered the floor. He vaguely knew where everything went, so it couldn't be too hard, right?

A little-known fact about Rafael Barba was that he could easily be considered a neat freak. What started out as a small gesture to kill time ended up being two hours spent on the floor, sorting legos by size into three different containers. Oh, but it didn't stop there. Then he moved on to the toy cars, which were placed on the shelf by coloring, following the rainbow. But when he finished with that he realized how weird it would look if he left the mess of papers, crayons, and mail on the coffee table. The hours ticked by as he dusted, swept, mopped, and sanitized Olivia's apartment, checking in on Noah and Olivia between each task. Both of the Bensons slept throughout the night, but he did hear Olivia talking in her sleep a couple of times. It was clear that her dreams were taken over by the recent events. She was begging Sheila to give her Noah back. He considered waking her at one point, but it had seemed that the nightmare ended a few minutes later.

He finished up cleaning around four am with a proud smile and the satisfaction of knowing that _he_ was the one that got her apartment to be the cleanest it had ever been.

"Wow" He heard her gasp as she made her way down the hall and into the living room. "This place looks absolutely amazing" She complimented as she sat down next to him on the couch. "I can't believe you got this all done in…" she checked her phone for the time, "six hours".

Rafael shrugged. "I had to do something to stay awake. I haven't worked a night shift since I started working at a deli in college. How'd you sleep?" He asked as he took in her appearance. Although she didn't get as much sleep as he had wanted her to, she looked far more relaxed, and the bags under her eyes were much smaller. It would take time for things to get back to normal, but he was glad that he had been able to help her out.

"Better than I have in a very long time. I had a couple of nightmares though, but I stayed asleep". She reached out, gently placing a hand on his bicep. "I can't thank you enough for staying here last night, Rafa. For the first time since this whole mess started, I felt that Noah would be safe. And this place really does look amazing, even though I'm sure Noah will mess it up again in a matter of minutes" She joked, attempting to lighten the mood. "Did you alphabetize my board games?" She asked with a chuckle as she looked past him to examine the bookshelf on the other side of the room.

"Maybe…" He said, making her laugh. "I told you, I did what I had to do to stay awake. I even washed your at least two day old dishes" He told her, making a disgusted face.

"Well, once again, thank you. I'd be a mess without your help, literally and figuratively" She said, gesturing to her now spotless living room. "I was about to start a pot of coffee if you wanted to stick around... You could think of it as overtime" She joked awkwardly.

"I'd like that" He graciously agreed, despite the fact that he had downed several mugs full of coffee through out the night."And if you ever need me to take the night shift again, all you have to do is ask".


End file.
